Phil Starr

[quote name='LawrenceH' timestamp='1339671856' post='1692326'] This is the thing with the Eminence neo speakers, they nearly all bump up the upper mids (as do quite a lot of the ceramics). Certain people on talkbass insist this is never a problem but my personal preference is for something a little smoother. If you look at 10" ceramics bear in mind they'd typically weigh as much as or more than a kappalite! If portability is an issue then the other manufacturers I suggested make very good neo speakers. [/quote] Lawrence is right and in fact most speakers have this peak. It occurs fairly naturally as the big cones we use would fall off in response at much lower frequencies if they were designed to be rigid. In fact they flex and the central portion is mainly responsible for radiating the higher frequencies. By fiddling with the way the cones are made the manufacturers can control this and create a peak or a gradual roll off. Celestions bass speakers all have this peak but their PA speakers much less so. Anyway, this peak sounds quite nice even though it is actually a distortion and gives the classic sound of many guitar and bass systems. You might miss it if it is what you are used to hearing. That's down to taste really rather than physics so you have to decide between a smooth sound and a punchy (but distorted) one. The Fanes give the smooth sound. You can always use EQ to add a peak,

Hi I've been using the Fane Sovereigns. they are a general purpose speaker with a flat response. They do two models the 10-125 and the 10-300. I've tried both. The 10-125 is the one they recommend for bass. they do others too. The 125 has a smaller voice coil so handles reduced power (125W geddit?) and a lighter cone. It has a very flat response and goes up to 4kHz, in a biggish box it will have a very 'polite' sound not unlike DI'ing through the PA. If you used these with amp modelling they'd work really well. Put them in a compact box (four in a compact 4x10 for instance) and they'd give you a bit of a bass hump which would warm up the sound a bit at the expense of a little less deep bass. The 300 has more power handling and a much bigger magnet, So heavy I rebuilt my 4x10.These have the heavier cone and so top end is reduced a little and they handle deep bass with more authority, They only need a tiny cabinet so you can go really small and still get the best out of them. I ended up with them in a 2x10 which is loud enough to completely murder the drummer with my 600W amp so you never need anything else for indoor work. The deep bass is really clean and effortless but almost unspectacular as a result. the overall sound of these two isn't as different as i expected, the 300 goes high enough that you don't really notice any top missing (though like James Jamerson I think there's no money above the 5th fret) and the 125 does a nice clean bass too. The really good thing about these two is that Xmax (excursion) is very good so they handle a lot of bass before farting out. If I were fitting these in the cab you picture I'd go for the 125's if you were only going to use two and the 300 if you use four. Check the prices though, these are cheaper than the equivalent Eminences in the UK but I expect the position is reversed in the USA.

We tried alternatives to a full kit including the cajon. It makes a nice sound but our drummer never took to it. We also tried a cafe drum but the sound is literally monotonous. Now we go out with a Hi-hat and snare in the smaller pubs with a stomp box for the kick sound. We use a logarhythm which is cheap but sounds it. One local band goes around with just a snare and the drummer gets terrific variety just in the rhythm. Trophy Wife use a home made drum synth [url="http://vimeo.com/22665566"]http://vimeo.com/22665566[/url] which sounds great and gives a lot of performance opportunity but isn't acoustic obviously To be honest after experimenting I think it is matching the instrument to the drummer rather than the choice you make. Asking a drummer to use a cajon on the basis that it is just hitting things is not unlike asking a guitarist to play bass.

This question comes up pretty often so I wrote a brief article on the topic [url="http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/columns/gear_maintenance/making_it_loud.html"]http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/columns/gear_maintenance/making_it_loud.html[/url] The advice you are getting is pretty sound all round and for your budget you should find something fairly useful I'd also recommend Peavey or Ashdown secondhand. Good Luck

[quote name='The Dark Lord' timestamp='1338932312' post='1681428'] I'm just about to pick up one of these [url="http://www.guitarandampshop.co.uk/acatalog/Laney_CXP-112_120_Watt_Active_Stage_Monitor_Speaker_Cabinet.html"]http://www.guitarand...er_Cabinet.html[/url] [/quote] yeah we had the 10" version which is let down by the horn, It never let us down but just didn't give the vocal clarity i am looking for, if you do get it let us know how you get on.

[quote name='skidder652003' timestamp='1338884445' post='1680355'] used some wharfdale actives on saturday, they were fantastic, not mine unfortunately! [/quote] I must admit these are probably high on my list as they seem to represent pretty good value, Any idea which model?

You don't give any indication of budget but if I won the lottery. (you have to buy a ticket? Damn!) I'd buy the AER Amp One. It does it by trickery but it is loud and has a lovely warm tone and is tiny. Over a grand though and I've never ever seen one second hand which says something. There is nothing else like it really and if you are thinking about spending that much you have to look, if only to rule it out. Sorry but I'd agree with the go listen and try advice. Yeah, it is nice to have people point you in the right direction but the biggest variable is your taste and it is worth the research effort to get the sound you love, which of course I didn't do last time.

there's no secret to making a cheap cab. Chipboard or MDF instead of ply spray or carpet rather than vinyl, cheap fittings and speakers with smaller magnets and pressed steel frames. Then save on quality control. the latter should be no problem with Thomann according to their reputation here as their aftre-sales is highly rated. Ply actually doesn't sound as good as the other two but the cabinet is tougher if you move it around a lot and are careless. The small magnet either means the bass will be restricted or the speaker will be a lot less efficient or the maximum excursion of the speaker will be limited. It may well sound OK at lowish volumes but will fart out at a lower sound level then a quality product. I've no experience of Harley Benton but a lot of cheap PA stuff I've examined is unbelievably well made for the price, I couldn't buy the parts for the cost of the completed cabs. I'd reckon that if you can live with the restrictions this stuff will do a job for you but you might do better looking for mid-range second hand. There were a pair of Peavey 2x10's went for £110 on ebay last week.

I'll attempt a simple explanation though it is probably better with some drawings to explain. We are surrounded by electro magnetic fields from just about every electrical gadget around us. Any conductor in a magnetic field will act as an aerial and pick up some of that energy as electricity. In an audio cable this comes out as noise, it is only a tiny voltage but so is the voltage a mic' produces. In a 'balanced' (three pin) cable there are two signal wires and an earth. The cables are wired up so the signal goes in opposite directions down the cables but the electromagnetic noise will be at the same volume and the same direction in both cables. In the amp they are combined so that the noise cancels out but the signal doesn't. A mono jack can't do this as it only has one connection and an earth. If the signal has been through an amp then it will be much bigger. The noise will be the same. It is still there but swamped by the signal so you can safely use a mono jack (or an unbalanced cable) for these connections like the ones to your IEM's The balanced XLR's will be quieter but you might not notice much difference, Always use XLR (balanced) connectors if you can, they are never really wrong but don't worry too much if you know there is a good strong signal in an unbalanced lead.

We are now a trio but started as a duo though with electric bass. You don't say what style of music you play or what sort of audiences you intend playing to so if I'm way off beam then that's why. You have to be more melodic on the bass I think rather than just bashing away at the root 8 to the bar. We do Chasing Cars but I do the repeated guitar pattern on bass whist the guitarist takes the rhythm. In How to Save a Life (Fray) I play part of the piano line as the bass line In Dakota I play the guitar hook and vary the rhythm quite a lot from the original. Stereophonics songs are great for a stripped back approach, There are a lot of nicely crafted songs which are simple enough to stand messing around with a lot. We do Mr Writer, Step on my old Size Nines and are looking at Local Boy. Tainted Love goes down well, have a listen to the Imelda May version where he uses double bass. Little Lion Man, Mumfords works well, I just copy the bass line for this. To Love Somebody Nina Simone/Bee Gees is great for a treatment again because it is a nice simple song. Of course you may not be as cheesy as we are and in the end you have to choose songs your singer can do well but by homing in on well structured but simple songs and being prepared to go more melodic on the bass as well as messing with rhythms there's not much you can't do a version of. It makes you think as a bassist though and really improves your playing.

The time has come to upgrade, We played a gig on Sunday where we headlined with an open mic first and this gave us a chance to completely sort our monitors. The singers sounded out of this world throughout the evening. We are using an old, cheap Maplin PA as monitors simply because it was lying around unused and it has done the job for years. Set up carefully it works a treat but playing alone makes it difficult to adjust during the set so we are looking for an active system we can easily adjust on-stage. What active monitors have people tried and what is their experience? Good and bad please.

+1 for the AKG D5. I'm with Stevie on this one Shure's are popular because we all know them and they don't break (nothing wrong with that of course) Would you buy a car because it was the best available in the 1960's or has technology moved on? EV ND767a worth a look too.

+1 for compression. She needs to learn mic technique though and there isn't a brand on earth that will deal with someone who doesn't address the mic properly. Can you improve her monitoring so she can pick herself out a bit better. She may then learn to self correct. Over half of poor singing is actually down to poor monitoring IMO. You might want to look at super or hyper cardioid pattern mics rather than cardioids like the SM58. A lot of female vocalists often get on better with SM57's. Actually the beta58 is supercardioid but avoid anything with too strong a proximity effect if the singer has poor mic technique. I use an AKG D5 which does handle female vocals well but it is more revealing than the Shures so if the harshness is due to pitch problems beware. The Electrovoice nd767a might be worth a look too.

+1 Copydex and it is an easy repair. I usually ease the whole dust cap off and stick it back down in one piece rather than just trying to stick the loose bit but you'll have to judge this yourself. If it comes off easily because all the glue has failed then this is the right approach. If it is firmly stuck down then more than gentle pulling will damage the cone surface so just stick the loose bit. Use a childs paintbrush to get the glue on both surfaces,

[quote name='ratking' timestamp='1336937169' post='1653023'] As bass player, I'd absolutely agree with you But as audio engineer doing the occassional live job, my eternal wrath goes to those dragging their 810 fridge and 300W tube head on stage and so making it COMPLETELY impossible to achieve anything even close to a decent monitor mix [/quote] That's the point, only a totally selfish ************* would go onto anything smaller than a stadium gig with anything like this. I've mixed with 2x100W marshall full stacks for guitar and you simply couldn't hear the vocals as the guitar sound was louder at the mic than the singers voice even when they were touching the thing with their lips. Two 8x10s flat out create exactly the same problem. It is almost impossible to get a band sounding good when their on stage sound is much over 100dB and you are talking about pushing it up to maybe 110dB with peaks of 130dB+! You simply won't stop everything bleeding through the mic's. Your audiologist won't thank you either, these sort of sound levels will create permanent hearing loss instantly and the hearing loss will be progressive with continued exposure. I'm sure it is a wonderful, adrenaline filled experience and it will sound good as long as your ears hold out but you are buying it at the expense of your audience, the rest of the band and your own long term health.

You probably just need a new jack socket. The contacts inside are probably slightly bent or weakened in old age. Probably you need to take it to a bloke in a Guitar shop

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1336693903' post='1649767'] Don't assume you need to plug the bottom cab in. [/quote] This, I used to put my 4x10 on top of my 1x15 but used the 4 only as it sounded better. Looked impressive, sounded OK and was plenty loud enough.Bloody heavy stand though. You could always build an empty box the same size as your cabs to save weight and money it wouldn't be the first time this has been done..

For what it is worth I've used the Peavey Black Widow speakers and they are good. Replacing the baskets is really simple too. Alternatively the Fane sovereigns mentioned above are also good if you decide to go that route. I'd go for the 15-500. [url="http://www.bluearan.co.uk/index.php?category=Speaker_Components&startprod=10&instockonly=&man_old=all&masthead=Loudspeaker_Drivers&subheadnew=15_Inch_Drivers&sort=pr&manufacturer=Fane&submit=Go"]http://www.bluearan.co.uk/index.php?category=Speaker_Components&startprod=10&instockonly=&man_old=all&masthead=Loudspeaker_Drivers&subheadnew=15_Inch_Drivers&sort=pr&manufacturer=Fane&submit=Go[/url] the 15-500 pro has an aluminium basket which is slightly better. You could probably sell the old Black Widows on Ebay. Even broken ones will fetch something because fitting the new baskets is so easy. That's a generous offer from Balcro. Bass players are a good bunch.

There isn't really a 'sound' you can attribute to a particular size of driver. The size does affect the sound but so do many other features of speaker design. you can certainly have a bright sounding and bass light 15 or a deep 10. Don't obsess on speaker size or configuration and just go out and listen. Read the article on the Barefaced site you have been linked to above which should give you all the detail you want but it is all about how the cab sounds not how it gets there.

[quote name='guildbass' timestamp='1335784330' post='1635866'] a lot of valve HiFi stuff was class 'A' because the things were already so hot and drank so much juice cuz of the heaters and so on that it hardly mattered incidentally. As regards Bass.....Could one tell the differenve between class B (which is almost always really AB), and class A without much HF signal...Hmm...Not sure... [/quote] Originally a lot of valve amps were class A because of simpler circuit design and lower component count. Essentially every radio, just about, had a 5W classA amp built in. Usually coupled to a highly efficient but bass limited speaker. I think the hi-fi thing of the 90's for classA /zero feedback amps was a bit of nostalgia combined with a kind of reaction to the introduction of digital sources. Undoubtedly some of them sounded good though.

With the risk of being shot down in flames I'd say no difference in sound. At least not in relation to the class of the amp and with the proviso that you don't overload it. The design, construction and quality control do differ between designs and manufacturers, as ever. A lot in any difference in sound will be down to the adequacy or otherwise of the power supply. For example the designer of the Peavey IPR1600 has confirmed that it won't deliver its full power into 2ohms for more than a fraction of a second. Not everyone is so honest so don't think I'm being critical of Peavey, actually I went out and bought one of these for my PA and I'm delighted with it. AB amps almost always have under spec supplies anyway, always have had. Class AB amps are generally made from bog standard components and are well known territory for most competent engineers and repair men. Even the bargain basement stuff is generally well made and reliable. Class D and H usually have more exotic components in places and replacement parts might be more difficult to source especially in ten years time when the technology has moved on again. Switch mode power supplies are pretty well worked out technology now as they are almost universal for mobile phones and computers. Nonetheless they are intrinsically more difficult to repair than good old fashioned power supplies. Long term the new technology should be much more reliable though. It's all a bit like modern cars, better cheaper, more reliable but buggers to work on when they do break down.

I bought a Hartke Kickback 10 for rehearsal and for a semi acoustic act we have just started. It's got a good basic sound, the tone shaping is excellent and in small-medium rooms it is plenty loud enough to work with a drummer without them having to hold back at all. It's pretty good live but i wouldn't want to attempt any sort of rock with it, though it does have a DI out and the kick back feature means it is a great personal monitor. They don't make this any more but the 12 seems similar, same amp but bigger, similar speaker. It isn't much bigger than my old Peavey 20W practice amp easy to carry and gives proper bass. I'm sure other offerings are as good but I'm very happy with mine.

Well 900W into 8ohms is just over 10A. Since it is music and not a continuous current the 1.5 cable will handle this easily. If it is a short cable, less than 2m say then the resistance will be negligable and it will be fine, for longer runs use 2.5mm, which will also be fine for short leads as well.

Gorillaz were right. "its all in your head". I used to be a biology teacher for what that is worth. All your ears do is turn the changes in air pressure into electrical disturbances in the nerves which get transmitted to the brain where the real work starts. If the air pressure changes made by a speaker were the same as those made by an instrument then the nerve impulses would be the same and we would hear the same. Hearing involves learning as well as just nervous transmission. We learn to associate certain patterns of vibration and hence patterns of impulses as certain objects. We work out how far away they are by the small difference in time between arrival by one ear and another and by things like reverberation decay and how loud they are. A lot of sound perception depends upon learning, I doubt most of us could tell an oboe from a cor anglais playing the same note but would have no difference telling the difference between a J-bass and a P-bass, for classical musicians it would be the other way round. The signal processing is complex but similar to the sort of thing we do when the echoes from an ultrasound scan are processed to make a picture of a baby in the womb. If you could hear or see the ultrasound it would make no sense at all but the information is all there. It needs a lot of computing power to extract it is all. Hearing works the same way. Notice that we constantly 'hear' sounds that aren't actually there. If you ever record your gigs or even a conversation the mic picks up everything and the background voices bangs and clinking of glasses etc all seem incredibly loud even compared with the PA. This is real sound. You hear the band as being louder because your brain filters out sounds it doesn't think are important, the ears are still picking them up. Remember the brain is still more powerful than any computer we have built and this is the sort of thing it is doing all the time. I could give a much longer answer but, you know, your brain has other information to process and I have a bass to play. Hope this helps

You've touched a nerve here and everyone is saying the same thing: just do it. I was a late starter, began playing with a band after only a few weeks, playing paid gigs after a few months and I'm still only a basic player after 5 years but in two bands and having a whale of a time. Why didn't I start years ago? The point is that a band is a team, it may have it's stars but it needs the journeymen too. I see a lot of pub bands, there is usually one decent musician, one or two who can play a bit and one or two who can do a job. there is usually little correlation between the number of top musicians in the band to the audience reaction. The band can't function without a rhythm section and for that ace singer/guitarist/whatever you will be making their performance possible. So long as you don't bullshit anyone about your ability you won't be letting them down. My band have taken on two beginner drummers in the last four years, they improved rapidly and we couldn't have continued gigging without them. For someone you will be a godsend so long as you are prepared to work at learning the stuff. I'd absolutely back the idea of open mic/jam nights, you need to meet people who play and get a taste of playing with them and you won't need to be on top of 2 hours worth of songs to perform.